• Pettitte has won 9 of 11 decisions and given up two runs or less in 11 of 13 starts. He has allowed three or less in 21 of 26 starts (also from Lisa).

• He’s a finalist for the National League’s Comeback Player of the Year Award. It’s a new award, sponsored by Viagra. Other finalists: Cliff Floyd, Todd Jones, Ken Griffey Jr., Brian Fuentes and Troy Glaus. Fans can vote on-line at MLB.com (ditto).

• Adam Everett drew his second walk of the month Friday night. He has four walks since the All-Star Break (came up with this one myself).

• The Astros have the second-lowest ERA (3.56) in the big leagues. They lead baseball with 84 quality starts.

• Willy Taveras leads all big league rookies with 147 hits and an assortment of other offensive categories. Only four rookies in franchise history have had more (guess who?).

• Neil Hohlfeld asks: What do Todd Jones, Brad Lidge and Billy Wagner have in common? For one thing, they’ve all saved 30 games this season. For another, they were all drafted and signed by the Astros. Lidge and Wagner were No. 1 picks; Jones was a sandwich pick as compensation for losing Nolan Ryan.

• Did you know only one NL team has a winning road record? The Cardinals are 40-23.

• • •

My newfound friends from the University of Cincinnati would like you to know that all the Bearcats who played for Bob Huggins weren’t thugs. For instance, there’s Jason Maxiell.

• • •

Dan Marshall adds: “Under the (UC president Nancy) Zimpher regime, Jason Maxiell, the son of a single mother, would not have been allowed on the Bearcats. Pretty Poignant eh?”

Marshall says UC had the highest graduation rate for African-American players in the Big East and the overall highest GPA in Conference USA.

• • •

Another Bearcat, Darryl Fairchild of Dayton, wrote a thoughtful letter in defense of Huggins. Here’s an excerpt from it:

You report the often repeated story about a UC player punching the police horse–it never happened. Period. Yet, sportswriters keep repeating it as fact.

Here is the true story–Bob Huggins was a cocky upstart who took a team

from the Metro conference to the final four in 1992. He did it by relying

upon a group of junior college players.

At the time, junior college players were all cast as damaged goods and questionable players. It wasn’t the way a self respecting team did it. He also did it by playing tough defense and by emphasizing strength training.

Huggins was one of the innovators in using strength training. For these reasons, the basketball press made a caricature of Huggins and cast him as a renegade and his team as thugs.

It is odd that now most schools utilize junior college transfers (they are

scouted and recruited as vigorously as high school players). Also, all

In fairness to the issue, I received dozens of e-mails from fans who believe UC would be better without Huggins. They believe he never understood that role of sports in a large academic institution and that his players embarrassed the school with low graduation rates and by getting into trouble with the law.

• • •

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt says he made some major mistakes last winter. Wonder if another baseball owner we all know is willing to admit his mistakes?